Drs. Theo Kuijl
                               picture taken at Euromos, Turkey.

          On February 11, 1964 I was born in the capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam. For all of my life I have been living in Amsterdam with its rich cultural climate. There I have received my high school education in the highest ranked school of the Netherlands at that time called the "Berlage Scholen Gemeenschap" situated in Amsterdam. There I have enjoyed a classical gymnasium education and studied for seven years Latin and Greek and all other modern languages with high-ranking teachers. It was there that my interest for the classical culture and its philosophers started. At the age of fifteen I got for the first time aquatinted with translating and reading philosophical writers such as Caesar, Seneca, Cicero and of course Plato. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have had classical teachers who made an effort to not only learn us to translate these old languages, but also to transfer in great detail the 'classical philosophy' to their students.
          It was the late Drs. E. Egeter who taught me Latin and not only learnt his pupils the depth of Stoic thinking but also thought them to develop a critical and constructive intellectual attitude. In short his lessons were not only focussed on learning the subject matters but he also tried to incite his students on his own unique way to try to articulate and develop and to defend their own opinions. His lessons were the best possible preparation for any student for a subsequent study at any academic university. It is a pity that this man who had been such a example for what should be the attitude of an serious academic intellectual has passed away before this tract had been finished.
          My Greek education was taken care of by no less than Drs. E. M. A. Waszink. She indeed was a very remarkable and inspiring personality that encouraged her students to explore the classical Greek culture in its widest sense. This meant that she brought every lesson some art books from her collection at home to the school class for her pupils to study and enjoy. She had previously been working in the "Allard Pierson Museum", which is the main archaeological museum of Amsterdam. Apart from the literal translation of ancient Greek text it was the Greek art and philosophy that formed a great part of her lessons. It should be no surprise that her knowledge of philosophers such as the pre-Socratics and Plato was outstanding.
          These teachers had inspired me to start in 1983 with my philosophy study at the University of Amsterdam. Because of my personal interest and inclination for 'spirituality' I got soon attracted and inspired by the several living philosophical traditions in Asia. But I found that my deep interest for Buddhism and especially Zen Buddhism could never be sufficiently experienced or understood from the lessons books or scholars at the University. That is why I started in 1984 to practice one of the most cultured martial arts of Japan -Aikido-. I was very lucky to encounter Mr. A. H. Bacas Sensei (5^th dan) in a cultural centre called the "Kosmos". From that time this man became my personal teacher and leadsman in my Aikido career. He taught and encouraged me to keep searching for the spiritual roots of Aikido by following a Japanese Master in this martial art called Mr. M. Fujita Sensei (8^th dan). This highly esteemed Shihan is operative as Chief General Affairs of the Hombu Dojo Aikido World Headquarters in Tokyo Japan and travels all over the world spreading the message of O' Sensei by means of his teaching of Aikido.
         Meanwhile at the University I got in contact with Prof. Dr. O. D. Duintjer who taught "metaphysics and spirituality". I recognized a lot of my convictions with regard to the relevance of academic philosophy and 'spirituality'. O. D. Duintjer tried to define his own spiritual experiences and insights which he encountered and admired in traditions in the East (India) and tried to integrate with the academic culture of the West. This meant that his 'spiritual experiences of some sort ego-less consciousness' formed the content of his teachings. He considered these spiritual insights to be the basis of his philosophical articulation. He emphasized that therefore that philosophy should not only be a theoretical and intellectual argumentation but that it should be the external form and articulation of such spiritual experiences and insights. In this context I recognized my own sincere conviction and philosophical path. Many times I have been visiting India, a country that is completely pervaded by spirituality in its widest sense.
           Following my own particular inclination I have already for more than fifteen years intensely been studying 'the way of Aikido' and the spiritual and physical teachings of its founder Mr. Morihei Ueshiba, called O' Sensei, such as practised at the Hombu Dojo in Tokyo Japan. Nowadays I am 3^rd dan Aikidoka and I am still daily engaged with practising and teaching aikido, and this has brought me to many East European countries and to many states of the former USSR. Also I am board member of numerous national and international aikido organizations such as CASA, CABN, IPAF. In combination with my aikido practise I have also studied 'shiatsu massage' and completed in five years a training as therapist under guidance of Yoshinori Miyashita Sensei of the Namikoshi Institute in Japan.
          During the last years of my academic study at the University of Amsterdam I got closely acquainted with Mrs. Drs. M. Jager who teaches both at the University of Amsterdam and Leiden. Her lessons about classical philosophy made me to some extend quite familiar with Aristotle and his formal logic. My final thesis was the zenith of my academic career and I had combined all my insight with regard to the classical transcendental philosophy of Plato and my academic skills in this thesis about Tolstoy and Plato, called "Kunst, wetenschap en transcendentie, een inhoudelijke vergelijking tussen Tolstoy en Plato",©1995 Amsterdam. This thesis forms the basis and structure of this present tract "Art, science and transcendence, a comparison between Tolstoy and Plato",©1995-1999 Amsterdam.
           Both Drs. E. M. A. Waszink and Drs. M. Jager had been the special guests of my final promotion and they had been particularly interested and involved with the final preparation of my tract, which they considered to be utmost revealing and original. Prof. Dr. O.D. Duintjer had been my promoter and he praised my remarkable insights in classical philosophy and in particularly my extraordinary understanding of the quite complex Phaedrus dialogue of Plato. Unfortunately O.D. Duintjer was about to retire his career at the University, which meant that he could not in any way support a further continuation and promotion of my classical studies in Plato. Philosophy in the Netherlands is because of massive economizing on the verge of extinction and there is no great appreciation for classical thinkers like Plato. Since that time I have been studying further in exploring the theme "Eros" in Plato's philosophy of which this tractate is but a part of my academic findings. My intention behind publishing on the Internet is to find contact with academic circles outside the Netherlands which perceive some synchronism with my theories to proceed with a further printed publication and academic promotion. Hopefully this publication will enable me to bring my own modest contribution with regard to a better academic understanding of Plato's writings about "Eros".
 
 

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